


The Struggles of a Metamorphmagus's Parents

by Entwinedlove



Series: The Great October Challenge 2017 [59]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mentions of past child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-07 06:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16402664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Andy and Ted and Dora have a little family spat.





	The Struggles of a Metamorphmagus's Parents

**Author's Note:**

> Written for NaNo's Misfits's 31 Days of Fanfiction Challenge  
> day 21 prompt: a holiday celebration
> 
> [ ](https://i.imgur.com/Ybe4vOT.jpg)

"Are we ready to go?" Ted Tonks asked, calling up the stairs of their home to his wife and daughter. His parents were having a Christmas party and they were going to be late if they didn't get a move on.

"We're working on something," Andromeda called down.

Ted frowned, her tone indicated she was flustered and Andromeda Black Tonks rarely lost her cool; he decided to head upstairs to see what she was upset about.

He heard her voice, stern and scolding, from their five-year-old daughter's room. "You mustn't change your hair colour like that at this party, Nymphadora. Now make it brown so I can put the charm on it."

"No! I want it red and green for Christmas!"

"Nymphadora...." Andromeda's voice had taken on that tone that indicated she was coming to the end of her tether. Her own parents had resulted to stinging hex and worse to punish her and her sisters and sometimes Andromeda had trouble not falling back on corporal punishment when she was pushed to the limit of her patience. That's when Ted always knew to step in. He knew Andy didn't want to hurt their daughter, knew in his heart that they'd talked about punishments and disciplines and she didn't want to be like her parents, but he also knew that in her heart she thought they worked. She had always obeyed her parents for the threat of punishment or afterwards desisted whatever behaviour had got her punished in the first place.

He slipped into the room to find Andromeda with her wand drawn, not in anger or frustration, but to cast the Stasis Charm on Nymphadora's hair and features so she couldn't accidentally morph in front of Muggles. His daughter was looking defiantly up at her mother with a duck's beak for a nose and hair that faded between red and green like twinkle lights. He sighed loud enough for both to hear and turn to him.

Andromeda was at her wit's end and her hair was starting to frizz in her frustration. He walked closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He leaned into her and kissed her temple before whispering. "Take a moment, calm down, I'll deal with her. I love you."

Andy knew she had been pushed to her limit nodded and left the room without another word. Hopefully to take a sip of Calming Draught to settle her anger. Ted turned to look at their beautiful little girl.

"Dora," he said, kneeling in front of her and holding out his arms. Her face morphed back to normal and she sprang into her daddy's arms.

"Why is she so mean! I just want to be festive!"

Ted pressed his lips to her forehead and tried to find the words to ease the relation between mother and daughter. Both were almost too headstrong for their own good. He smiled to himself and wondered if there was anything she might have taken after him on.

"I know you want to be festive and normally Gramps and Gran don't have a problem with your ever-changing hair but there are going to be Muggles at the Christmas party and your abilities, your magic, will scare them. We don't want to scare Gramps and Gran's friends, do we?"

She shook her head back and forth and stepped back to look up at him. "It's not because I'm weird?"

"Of course not, pumpkin," he smiled as her hair shifted to a golden orange before returning to her red-green fade. "Will you relax the morph so we can see your lovely features? You look so much like your Mum..."

She let the red and green hair shimmer back to brown, a lighter shade than Andy's, closer to his dirty blond. She apparently had shifted her eyebrows and ears as well and those returned to the face he'd first scene moments after her birth, the one that was a mix between his beautiful Andy's face and his own.

"You have to put the Stasis Charm on, don't you?" she asked, pouting.

"You know I do. Until you can control it, which might be years and years from now when you go to Hogwarts, we have to put the Stasis Charm on so you don't get excited and morph without thinking. All right?" he asked.

She nodded and he pulled his wand and cast the spell to keep her looking like his parents' Muggle friends were used to seeing her.

"It itches," she complained.

"I know, sweetie, but you know what?"

"What?"

"There's going to presents at the Christmas party..."

Her eyes went wide with excitement. "Really?"

"Of course, pumpkin."

Her nose wrinkled as the Stasis Charm held. It was his test. Calling her pumpkin always made her hair change to golden orange.

Andromeda met them at the foot of the stairs, her hair back in its smooth plait, and a calm, loving expression on her face. "There's our beautiful girl," she said, holding her arms out to Dora. When Nymphadora hesitated, Ted nudged her, and she flung herself forward into her mother's arms. "I'm sorry I lost my temper, Dora," she whispered.

"It's okay, Mummy," she replied. "Let's go to the party, Daddy says there will be presents!"

Ted smiled as he watched the loves of his life tidy their clothes and proceed him from the room. He was so blessed to have them in his life.


End file.
